This has been a Summer of Discontent according to various commentaries. The discontent, defined along an intergenerational divide, amounts not so much to a conflict as to an outright war.
We could use boxing terminology to explain that in the red corner, we have the “young” (define them as you see fit apparently) wanting understandably perhaps the benefits in life at a young age which they see their fellow citizens in old age enjoy. In the blue corner, we have the “old” (again, again a broad definition) apparently pottering along on golf courses, on months’ long luxury cruises or in their great rambling mansions, which they stubbornly refuse to vacate for the “young”.
This is an interesting scenario playing out before our eyes and one which has played out endlessly since baby-boomers as a term was conceived, and played out despite research repeatedly confirming that this conflict is a media-fired myth. So now we have the baby-boomers versus the baby-busters.
Supporting the conflict, there are commentaries in the media from young persons, frustrated with their circumstances. Who would not be shocked to read the honest emotion of a particular young lady writing about her recent birthday and that of her father: I spent mine at the beach, mostly stressed that I’m 23 without owning my own home, not having thousands of pounds spare, not being at the peak of my career. My Dad had a group of friends over, partied in his own garden and got a massage. He was excited to turn 45, but I felt behind turning 23. (The I, August 31st).
Or similarly the harsh statement in a piece in the Independent revealing that another young person resents my parents for having the pension and retirement I’ll never be able to afford (The Independent, September 19th).
Maybe we need the referee to call a time out so that we as a society can reflect on how we have arrived at this situation, and what we can do to address it and bring joy and a care-free feeling about life now and life ahead to one of society’s most precious assets, our young people -our future.
Firstly, who are these baby boomers?
The term seems to have appeared for the first time in the United States, coined to compartmentalise that subgroup of the US population born between the end of the 2nd World War and the early 1960s. There has been some debate about the pinpointing of whom the term refers to in the United Kingdom, but the group of people born in the post 2nd WW years, now aged between 65 and 80 years is a reasonable definition[1]. In fact, in the UK there were two booms post 2nd World War: the first in 1947 and the second in 1964, measured by the average number of live births per woman. In both years, just over 1 million live births were recorded. Less than 700,000 live births were recorded in 2021 in the United Kingdom.
This reflects a critical demographic factor with regard to population ageing – only rarely cited in this debate – namely the fact that levels of childbearing have remained stubbornly low for decades, which exacerbates the ageing of the population. Recent data from the Office for National Statistics reveal that levels of childbearing had fallen to an all-time low of an average of live births per woman of 1.41, down from its post war 2nd boom peak of 2.69 in 1964 and its post war 1st boom peak of 2.7 in 1947. As mentioned, we have gone from peaks of around 1 million births in a year to less than 700,000.
Large parts of the press would have us believe that the generations are at war, but a recent YouGov study shows that most Britons don’t even know what generation they are in. This recently published survey of more than 40,000 Britons aged 18-75 was carried out in December 2021 and found that four in ten (40%) answered “don’t know” when asked what generation they belong to, while a further one in five (19%) thought they belonged to a different generation than the one they actually belong to. Just over 40% correctly stated the generation they belong to[2].
Research on baby boomers has mostly focused on their impact on the debate about the dramatic population change we are experiencing, while at the same time emphasising their bridging rather than conflicting generational role[3]. Elsewhere, research suggests that the demonization of the baby boomers has been mobilised effectively by opponents of the welfare state[4].
The term baby boomer is all too often used in a derogatory manner, particularly in certain quarters, where it is bandied around in the constant discourse of an intergenerational conflict, caused by the wealth and selfishness of this veritable army of ruthless baby boomers. For example, prolific user of the term and an apparent warrior against baby boomers is a senior economics writer for the Guardian newspaper, whose over the summer 2025 – and not for the first time (see some of my previous blogs on https://www.ageing.ox.ac.uk/blog/author/2) – has produced a series of outbursts against this group[5].
The research evidence also questions the notion of intergenerational conflict.
Our Oxford Global Ageing Survey, which is a global cross-sectional survey carried out in three waves in 2005-8, covering 25 countries and territories, and comprises interviews with 44,000 people aged 40-80 in 25 countries drawn from Asia, the Americas, Europe and Africa[6]. Similarly, the Unifying Generations, which is a pan-European study of attitudes to and experience of intergenerational conflict in six countries, including the United Kingdom[7]. The overwhelming evidence from just these two pieces of research is that older adults are contributing significantly to support their families and their communities and would actually like to contribute more (in the work place, for example, if societal barriers to their participation could be removed), and that both younger and older generations value intergenerational interaction and would like more.
The real question, thus, is are we really now witnessing a young generation openly jealous of what they see their parents as having in later life when they do not have the same (wealth, housing, levels of consumption etc.) in their young adulthood years[8]? Or are we seeing the frustration of young people frustrated with life in general being used as mdia cannon fodder in the intergenerational conflict?
I can only point to the research evidence. And if research evidence is not enough, just look around your own family and community and ask do you recognize this intergenerational conflict?
References
[1] The Myth of the Baby Boomer, Ready for Ageing Alliance, London 2015.
[2] Ok… Boomer? Most Britons don’t actually know what generation they are, https://yougov.co.uk/society/articles/45404-ok-boomer-most-britons-dont-actually-know-what-gen, 2023.
[3] For example, Leach,R. et al. (2013), Baby boomers, consumption and social change: the bridging generation, International Review of Sociology, Vol. 23 (1), pp.104-122.
[4] For example, Bouk, D. (2018), Generation Crisis: How Population Research Defined the Baby Boomers, Modern American History, 1, pp.321-342.
[5] For example, on September 20th Boomers think their wealth came from wise choices – this myth needs busting and on August 21st Can a nation in crisis rely on the baby boomer generation to step up? I think the UK is about to find out, Philip Inman.
[6] https://www.ageing.ox.ac.uk/publications/glas-reports.
[7] Building the Pathway to Intergenerational Solidarity in the UK (2022) and Unifying Generations: Building the Pathway to Intergenerational Solidarity (2022), both Edwards Life Sciences.
[8] The Independent, September 19th 2025 and The I, August 31st 2025.
About the Author
George Leeson is a Professorial Fellow at the Institute of Population Ageing, where he co-ordinates the Latin American Research Network on Ageing (LARNA) and the Central and Eastern European Research Network on Ageing (EAST).
Opinions of the blogger is their own and not endorsed by the Institute
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